


General Plan of Avoidance

by iwaizumemes (skytramp)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Romance, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 16:10:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4026352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skytramp/pseuds/iwaizumemes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes he hated it, that he remembered all sorts of things, especially rivalries, everything would be easier if he didn’t, but in this case it was alright. Because he remembered, he would be sure to avoid Kozume Kenma if he ever ran into him on campus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	General Plan of Avoidance

It hadn’t taken him long to remember where he knew the boy from, he had a good memory. While it was usually reserved for plays and strategies and schoolwork, some part of his brain also kept track of rivalries, people who had said just the right thing to taunt him at the right time. Sometimes he hated it, that he remembered those sorts of things, everything would be easier if he didn’t, but in this case it was alright. Because he remembered, he would be sure to avoid Kozume Kenma if he ever ran into him on campus. 

Unfortunately, Ushijima’s second year of college was to be particularly unlucky, and he found himself not only sharing a class with Kozume, but sharing _a table_. The minutes before class were uneventful, their neighbors talked, Ushijima prepared his notes, and Kozume played some sort of game on a handheld system and seemed to have tuned out the world around him. That was fine, Ushijima could work with that. It’s much easier to ignore someone who is also ignoring you. 

The class passed quickly, Ushijima took notes, and from what he saw from the corner of his eye, so had Kozume. They didn’t speak, lecture didn’t allow for that, but they wouldn’t have either way, and he was glad. Two weeks of similar treatments, not even eye contact between the two of them, had lulled him into what was to be a false sense of security. The bad luck struck again. 

_Group Project_ , the board at the front of the class read, and when the professor explained that the groups were pairs and that the pairs were already selected by table Ushijima had to clench his knuckles. He didn’t get angry often, his temper was fine honed, but he could get frustrated, frustrated that all his well laid and well executed plans of ignoring his table mate had come crashing down around him. 

As class ended Kozume turned to him and said two words and two words only. “Library, six.” 

Ushijima was the type of guy who could appreciate expediency, but that was just excessive. Or, the opposite of excessive. He could have asked if Ushijima was free (he was), or if he preferred to meet somewhere else (he didn’t), or even if _he_ would like to be the one to suggest their meeting place (he wouldn’t), but all that was rendered moot by those two words, and Kozume leaving the room with his video games in his hands. 

Six rolled around with the consistency of anything one really wishes wouldn’t happen, and Ushijima found himself walking into the library and scanning for a familiar blonde head. It didn’t take long to see him and he sat down across the table without word of greeting. 

“The project is about plants.” Kozume said, not looking up from the game in his hand. Ushijima hadn’t even been sure he’d been noticed, but apparently he had. 

“I know.” Was all he thought to reply. Yes, it was a biology class, of course the project was about plants. 

“Do you know things about plants?” Kozume asked, and his eyes flicked up for less than a second, and then back down at the game. 

“Only what we’ve learned in class.” 

“Me too.” 

The rest of their hour together was spent similarly. Kozume never put down his game, Ushijima took to scanning the project syllabus and flipping through the textbook.

“I have to go.” Kozume said suddenly, just after seven. Surprisingly, he put his game in his bag when he rose to his feet. “Same time tomorrow?” 

At least it had been a question that time, and Ushijima nodded before Kozume left the library. 

The next day went slightly smoother, Kozume actually put his game away and opened his own textbook. Sometimes they spoke more than one sentence at a time, they made progress on the project. It was Friday, so Ushijima hadn’t expected it when Kozume offered their next meeting time. 

“Tomorrow, my place?” 

“Where do you live?” 

“C dorm, room 206, same time?” 

Ushijima just nodded again, and Kozume left the library first. 

His hair wouldn’t stay flat. He didn’t often think about his hair, but something about that Saturday, from the time he woke up his hair blatantly refused to stay flat, and that was _bothering_ him. He found himself spending much longer in front of the small bathroom mirror than he normally would, and he was almost late by the time he realized he needed to meet Kozume. 

It was undignified, how out of breath he was when he knocked on the door of room 206, and even more undignified that it wasn’t even Kozume that answered. 

“Who are you?” He asked the boy in front of him. He was short, and orange, and possibly vaguely familiar but no one he’d met before he was pretty sure. 

“Ushiwaka! What are you doing here?!” The orange one yelled. That was annoying, apparently it was someone he’d met before, possibly. 

“I’m here to meet Kozume. Class project.” 

“Let him in, Shouyou.” He heard Kozume call from inside the room, and the orange one stood aside just enough for him to squeeze past and enter the room. It was much the same as any other dorm, mirrored furniture, a bed, desk, dresser aligned against each wall. Kozume sat criss cross on his bed, Ushijima took the chair by his desk. 

“Okay, um, Kenma, I’m gonna go to class now, but text me if you need me, okay?” 

Kozume looked at his roommate blankly and then nodded. Why he would possibly need him when they were studying he didn’t know. He supposed it was possible the boy was intimidated by him, and thought Kozume would be too. That was humorous to think about, Kozume wasn’t intimidated by him in the slightest, that was what was so irritating. 

The door shut behind his roommate and Ushijima pulled the textbook from his bag. 

“Why do you do that?” Kozume suddenly asked and Ushijima only looked at him. 

“Do what?” 

“Pretend like you don’t know people. It’s stupid to pretend.” 

“Who?” He set the textbook on the desk. Apparently they weren’t going to work on their project. 

“Shouyou, you played him at prefectural finals, you have to remember.” 

The memories were there, and now that he thought about it there was a vaguely orange tint to much of that match that he remembered. 

“I wasn’t pretending, I didn’t remember him.” He tried to keep his voice calm but why was he being _lectured_?

“Like you don’t remember me?” 

“I remember you.” He was seething now. This was beyond acceptable. He’d been ignoring him, successfully, for _weeks_ before this project. And now they were talking, now he was saying things Ushijima didn’t want to hear. “I never said I didn’t remember you.” 

“You kind of acted like you didn’t, though, I thought you hated me.” He didn’t say it like it was a bad thing, just like it was a fact that had been refuted. It very much _hadn’t_ been refuted. 

“I didn’t say I don’t.” That was petty, but he couldn’t help it. He felt it was slightly less rude than saying _I do hate you._

“You don’t though, I can tell. You probably like me.” He said it with a tone that conveyed pure boredom.

Ushijima rose to his feet as calmly as he could. 

“I don’t like you.” He said coldly. Kozume put down the game in his hand and looked up at him. 

“You do. You’re a bad liar, Ushijima.” 

Okay. How could he prove to this boy that he absolutely did not like him? What could he say that would convince him that he’d only spent the last two years thinking about him _occasionally_ because of something he’d said during nationals? Occasionally wasn’t enough to warrant the word ‘like’. He’d spent less than two hours deciding to avoid and ignore him after that time at the beginning of the year when he’d seen him across campus, that was nothing, he’d spent longer pondering decisions about breakfast. For that matter, being a bad liar wasn’t an insult. He never lied, so of course he would be bad at it, but he _wasn’t_ lying now. 

He stepped forward, hoping a closer presence would help him convey his sincerity, and his thighs almost touched the raised bed. 

“I don’t like you, Kozume. I am not lying.” 

Kozume reached out and grabbed his hand and before he could respond held it close to his face, palm up. 

“Maybe you aren’t lying, but you aren’t telling the truth, I can tell. Also, don’t call me Kozume I don’t like formalities.” He said the words into Ushijima’s hand, as he ran his finger along the lines. 

This was confusing. It didn’t feel bad, his fingers on the palm of his hand, he wasn’t sure it felt good, but it didn’t feel bad. It should have felt bad. He hated Kozume. He’d hated him since the moment he’d half smiled and said _“Volleyball is just a game, why do people try so hard?”_

His fingers moved until he was holding Ushijima’s hand in both of his and, strangely, he brought the palm to his lips. 

“Why are you doing that?” 

He pulled back slightly and tilted his head to look up at Ushijima. His expression was strange, fond in a way he hadn’t seen it. Why?

“Because you like me.” 

“No I don’t.” This was just getting redundant. 

“You do.” He kissed the palm again before looking back up. “Sit down here.” He patted beside him.

Ushijima sat, with his hand still held out in front of him. 

“Volleyball is not just a game.” He said when he was fully seated, his leg tucked beneath him. 

Kozume laughed. It was soft, mostly just his breath, but it was definitely a laugh. 

“What are you laughing?!” He yanked his hand away but stayed seated. 

“You still remember that?” And he laughed again. He was so confusing. 

“Yes. And you were wrong.” 

“If I say I was wrong will you admit you like me?” He scooted slightly closer and their knees were touching. 

“I’m not going to change my mind about you so quickly.” 

“Okay.” He reached back and grabbed his game again, flipping open the screen and beginning to play. Ushijima slightly readjusted, until his back was against the wall and his legs stretched out in front of him, dangling off the side of the bed. 

Kozume played his game with intense concentration, and Ushijima spent that time alternating between being angry and wondering if he actually _was_ angry. He hadn’t yelled, surely that would be a clear sign of anger. He wasn’t a violent person by nature but he hadn’t even felt the urge to hit anything. Maybe he wasn’t angry after all. Which seemed wrong. He should have been angry. Kozume had clearly been taunting him, being purposely contrary could be nothing other than taunting, and that should have made him angry. Was he angry when Kozume kissed his hand? No, that hadn’t been anger. 

Kozume readjusted where he sat, and actually laid down until his head rested against Ushijima’s leg. That was, strangely nice. 

“What are you doing?” He asked and Kozume shrugged with one shoulder. 

They didn’t work on their project that night, but they sat for two hours, Kozume’s head resting on his leg while he played his game, before the orange one came back and he left. 

The next morning he woke up to a message on his phone. He didn’t text often, and not many people had his number, but by the content he judged that somehow, one of the people who did was Kozume. 

_[same place, one?]_

Ushijima could not nod via text message, so he replied.

_[Okay.]_

His hair did a better job of staying flat today, which was good. He wasn’t sure why it was good, only that he had spent less time in front of the small bathroom mirror, and he was no where near late to meet Kozume. In fact, he was almost early, as it was only 12:50 when he knocked on the door. 

The orange one opened it again, looking decidedly less energetic, possibly still half asleep, and he let Ushijima pass by wordlessly before grabbing his bag and leaving himself. 

Kozume was on the bed again, cross legged, but his game wasn’t in his hand. 

“Sit here.” He patted the bed beside him again and Ushijima complied. 

“Do you know that you like me yet?” 

Ushijima took a moment to think. Did he like Kozume? Well, he was fairly certain at this point that he didn’t hate him, not like he’d thought. He supposed it had been somewhat, pleasurable, the way his head rested against his thigh, even when it got uncomfortable and he’d wanted to move, he hadn’t. Surely that meant something akin to like. He decided that, for all intents and purposes, the feelings he’d like to convey were somewhere near enough to like that he would agree. 

“I do like you.” 

“Good.” Kozume just nodded, but he scooted closer so that they were sitting and his knees were touching the side of Ushijima’s thigh. His hands were on his knees. 

“What are you doing now?” 

“I was going to kiss you, if that’s alright?” 

At least he asked. And yes, he supposed it was alright. His lips had felt nice against the palm of his hand, he couldn’t imagine they would be unpleasant against his lips. He nodded briskly and Kozume leaned in until their mouths were only inches apart. Why had he stopped? He supposed it didn’t matter, truly, and that question was sure to interrupt whatever Kozume was trying to do, so Ushjima just waited. He watched Kozume’s closed eyelids for a few seconds. 

“Are you going to…” Kozume spoke but didn’t move anything but his lips. 

Oh. 

“Yes. Sorry, I didn’t realize.” Ushijima closed the gap, and pressed their lips together. 

It certainly wasn’t unpleasant. And when Kozume leaned in further, pressing harder until Ushijima’s back was against the wall, it became something more like pleasant, pleasurable, good. 

It was some minutes before they both pulled away for the last time. 

“That was unexpected.” He said and Kozume laughed again. He found he liked the sound more this time. 

“Only to you. I’ve been contemplating it for weeks.” 

“Oh.” Was all he could think to say. “Should we work on the plants now?”

**Author's Note:**

> beware weirdly ooc weirdness im sorry


End file.
